It is not uncommon for excellence in a pedigree to lie dormant. It may skip a generation, yet has an uncanny knack of resurfacing.
That would certainly apply to Alula’s Star, the winner of last weekend’s Gr3 Magnolia Handicap.
She joins Gr1 SA Classic hero Red Saxon as the second Graded stakes winner to emerge from the initial crop of Western Winter’s Gr1 winning son Red Ray.
Alula’s Star storms home to win the Gr3 Magnolia Handicap last Saturday at Turffontein (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
It can be argued that Red Ray ignited the spark of excellence in Alula’s Star and rightly so, considering one has to delve deep to find the first stakes winner in the filly’s female family.
Given this lack of black type up front, it’s no surprise that owner Ian van Schalkwyk outlayed just R80 000 for his latest stakes winner, which, by the way, she has already repaid sixfold, and with interest.
Records show that the filly’s dam Solar Voyager was no slouch on the track. A winner of six sprints for the Lucky Houdalakis stable, this daughter of Captain Al was the epitome of toughness and durability and was still winning at the ripe old age of seven, when most of her contemporaries already had at least one foal at foot.
Sportsworld (Alleged – Gallanta)
In contrast to her daughter, grandam Solar Express stayed well and clearly took after her sire Sportsworld, a fine source of classic stamina. She scored up to 2000m and earned small black type with a second in the 2400m Sun Chariot Handicap contested at the now defunct Newmarket racetrack.
From a pedigree perspective, it is interesting to note the duplication in Solar Voyager of important taproot mare Gay Missile, through her daughters Lassie Dear (dam of Al Mufti, the sire of Captain Al) and Gallanta (the dam of Sportsworld)
Solar Express was by far the best foal out of the next dam Solarium, who scored three times and was an own sister to the stakes winner Sea Horse, the first black type winner in the immediate family.
Sired by the successful KZN-based sire Caerdeon, the pair are out of New Zealand import Sun Pearl, who showed plenty of ability by winning four times and finishing third in the Sceptre Stakes.
This is where things get interesting, for Sun Pearl was an own sister to a smashing sort in Sun Monarch, a champion of the seventies.
The great Sledgehammer
Raced by John and Mary Liley, and trained by Herman Brown Snr, this powerful chestnut proved himself the country’s Champion Two-year-old by inflicting the sole juvenile defeat of Sledgehammer in the Gr1 Champion Nursery Stakes at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
That was no mean feat, considering his mighty compatriot subsequently carried virtually all before him and was named Horse of the Year at four.
Whether it was a matter of the stars aligning, a confluence of genetic characteristics or a combination thereof, one thing is clear, Alula’s Star has single-handedly revived what has essentially become a dormant female line.
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